COMM 3335: Argumentation and Critical Thinking
by Claire Robertson
Policy and position paper
Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate and Religious Exemptions
Abstract
After President Biden announced his plan to mandate businesses with 100 or more employees to require COVID-19 vaccinations, people who are opposed to receiving the vaccine are searching for ways to be exempt. Those seeking a religious exemption claim their sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving vaccinations. While vaccines are not disputed in most major world religions, the freedom of religion outlined in the Constitution applies to all religious faiths, even those that are less known and understood. The freedom of religion is an important part of American freedoms, and employers facing requests for these exemptions must decide how to respond to these requests without putting their other employees at risk. In this paper, I will explain the vaccine mandate and religious exemptions, make arguments for and against allowing religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine in the workplace, and propose a plan of action for employees who wish to seek a religious exemption.
Final Reflection
The debate assignments in this course strengthened my researching and argument-building skills and challenged my critical thinking skills to be able to follow logical arguments for topics I didn’t personally align with. The team debate where I had to argue against student loan debt forgiveness was especially challenging because it made me look for resources I normally wouldn’t give attention to and also made me ignore my own personal thoughts on how financial institutions take advantage of young people and shackle them with huge debt. Arguing for something I felt strongly against was an exercise in logic and reasoning because I had to let go of my own ideas and still build a persuasive case which was not an intuitive exercise. The issue brief assignments were a way to explore the role of media when discussing current events and honed my newsgathering skills as I was always researching new topics to write about or debate.
Single-issue debate 2
Should College Tuition be Free?
Claire Robertson argues college tuition should be free and Shyra White argues why students should pay tuition.
Cited:
U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). College affordability and completion: Ensuring a pathway to opportunity. College Affordability and Completion: Ensuring a Pathway to Opportunity | U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://www.ed.gov/college.
issue brief 1
September 23, 2021
Issue:
Texas republicans pass bill restricting voting after 2020 election. Why do they want to suppress the voices of Texans? The opposition to this bill fears it will especially impact marginalized voters by race and ability.
Increase early voting hours in majority republican areas
Bans overnight early voting and drive-through voting: initiative popular with POC in Harris county
Makes mail-in voting less accessible and makes it a state jail felony to proactively pass out applications by election officials
Gov. Abbott claims these measures are to decrease fraudulent voting- no or little evidence of voter fraud in Texas.
Recommendation:
Because this law would actively decrease voting options and especially targets initiatives used by racial minorities, this law should be repealed and ideally replaced by expanding voting access throughout the state.
Current law:
There are also questions on whether the U.S. Department of Justice will sue Texas over the new law, as it did Georgia earlier this year after lawmakers there passed a new law to tighten elections.
It remains unclear what, if any, Congressional action could affect the new law.
Background:
Current law faces legal challenges by Harris County and a coalition of advocacy groups that argue SB 1’s rewrite of Texas voting laws creates new hurdles and restrictions that will suppress voters and violates the U.S. Constitution and numerous federal laws.
Facing several other lawsuits.
Crucial change to a portion of the law that now requires voters to provide their driver’s license number or, if they don’t have one, the last four digits of their Social Security number on applications to vote by mail and on the envelope used to return their completed ballot.
Earlier this summer, the Texas secretary of state’s office indicated 2 million registered voters lacked one of the two numbers in their voter file despite their efforts to backfill that information.
References/resources:
“SB 1 is an arduous law designed to limit Tejanos’ ability to exercise their full citizenship,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, CEO of Voto Latino, which is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed in Austin on Tuesday.
TEXAS STATE CONFERENCE OF THE NAACP, COMMON CAUSE TEXAS, DANYAHEL NORRIS, HYUN JA NORMAN, FREDDY BLANCO, MARY FLOOD NUGENT, and PRISCILLA BLOOMQUIST, Plaintiff, v. GREG ABBOTT, in his official capacity as the Governor of Texas; JOHN or JANE DOE, in his or her official capacity as the Secretary of State of Texas; JOE ESPARZA, in his official capacity as the Deputy Secretary of State of Texas; KEN PAXTON, in his official capacity as the Attorney General of Texas, Defendant
Lawsuit
https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Original-Petition.pdf
Contact information:
The bill: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/871/billtext/pdf/SB00001I.pdf
Photo by Edmond Dantès from Pexels
Single-issue debate
Single-issue debate on the topic of "Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?" Claire Robertson argues the drinking age should be lowered and Gina Taylor argues the drinking age should remain at 21.
Syllogisms and Enthymemes
September 14, 2021
Syllogism, Enthymemes, and Toulmin's Model
Conditional Syllogism
Major Premise: The federal government should provide paid maternity and paternity leave for at least three months after having or adopting a baby. Parental leave greatly benefits society by allowing postpartum mothers to heal before returning to work, allowing both parents to care for and bond with a newborn who requires 24 hour attention, and improves family economic security.
Minor Premise: Families and society at large would benefit greatly by paid time off to care for their newborns.
Conclusion: Therefore, the federal government should provide a way for parents to stay home.
Narrative Analysis
Providing for both maternal and parental care has huge benefits for families and for the workforce. When people are able to care for their families properly without being forced back to work because they can’t afford the time off or their employer won’t approve sufficient time off, their physical and mental health suffers. In California, providing paid leave increases employee morale and retention, and most businesses surveyed in California reported no increase in costs and 9 percent even reported cost savings as a result of paid leave.
Toulmin's Model
Claim:
The federal government should provide paid maternity and paternity leave for at least three months after having or adopting a baby. Parental leave greatly benefits society by allowing postpartum mothers to heal before returning to work, allowing both parents to care for and bond with a newborn who requires 24 hour attention, and improves family economic security.
Grounds:
Other developed world governments provide for months of paid family leave and reap the benefits of happier, healthier, more fulfilled workers who are more likely to return to the workforce after their parental leave.
Warrants:
Evidence of the benefits of paid family leave in California can be replicated across the country.
Backing:
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that 90 percent of businesses participating in California’s paid leave program reported positive or neutral effects on productivity and 99 percent reported positive or neutral effects on morale. 87 percent of these businesses reported no increased costs and 9 percent reported savings thanks to greater employee retention and less spent on benefits. The CBPP reported New Jersey to have similar benefits through the state’s paid leave program.
Qualifiers:
Businesses need to be compensated through the federal government for paid employee leave. If left to the business to budget and provide for paid leave, most would do without as we see in our current system with no federal guaranteed parental leave.
Rebuttals:
Failing provisions from the federal government, all anti-labour laws and practices in every industry, private or public, must be removed so workers can organize and bargain for their right to paid family leave.
Sources:
Romig, K., & Bryant, K. (2021, April 27). A national paid leave program would help workers, Families. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/a-national-paid-leave-program-would-help-workers-families.